Social Media – 7 Things I Have Learned

Having come recently from the corporate cubile world in sales operations, social media was something only the kids and others who didn’t work 8-10 hours a day did. Wasn’t it?

Boy, was I wrong! There is a whole world in this Social Media thing, with must haves, must do’s, must don’ts and more. After setting up my website for Essential Office Solutons, I began chatting with other Virtual Assistants and they would say, if you want traffic to your site you have to participate in Social Media. So, I went to Facebook, Twitter and a few others and set-up accounts, then it was now what?

I logged in everyday to each of these virtual worlds and figured out the “workings” of each one — they are all different! Then I befriended, followed, became a fan and watched. Watched how people interacted in each and tried to figure out how to jump In. Here’s what I found.

Be nice and respectful of others – this should be the requirement in any situation and should not be surprising when on-line.

There are rules – as with any gathering in-person or on-line you have to play by the rules. But these on-line rules seem simple enough. Selling is not the reason you are engaging, the purpose is to build relationships/bonds. You can request assistance and others will respond, more times than not to help not sell you products or services. How refreshing.

Each one has it’s own language – this is more true on Twitter where you are limited to 140 character “tweets”. There is a tool that actually shortens your ramblings for you and will insert numbers, abbreviations and shorten url addresses. Twitter also has Follow Friday, Tweeple Tuesday and Smile Bugs; by watching you can learn what these are and the proper way to use them. They are even fun once you get the hang of it.

Be yourself – find friends, contacts, followers who are interested in your business or who you are interested in. I have found the most motivational people, coaches, industry experts and dog lovers!

Every business should have a Social Media plan – and use it to grow their business by spreading and making their brand known on these tools. It is not just for freelancers, consultants or small businesses – large corporations such as Whole Foods, Coca Cola, Toyota and more are tweeting!

Plan to work at it – setting up your accounts takes only a few minutes, but minding this section of your marketing plan takes time and work. Researching interesting items to communicate, reviewing follower/friend requests, analyzing your efforts all require consistent effort.

Or hire an expert – you can hire a Virtual Assistant who is and expert using each of these to their fullest advantage and can help any business by teaching you how or handling your social media needs. Clearly, a creer speciality spawned by technology – humans are so rsourceful!

Jump in, have fun, enjoy the virtual community and mostly connect and communicate with others you might never otherwise have the opportunity to meet. Don’t forget to follow, contact, friend and fan Essential Office Solutions; Cindy Bruce on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace by clicking on the badges displayed on our site. Chat, tweet, update you soon!